Management of a network may include monitoring network traffic. Network traffic includes data that is generated and transmitted by machines or stations that communicate with the network. The data may be received by one or more destination stations that communicate with the network.
The transmitted data of the network traffic may be formatted in the form of data packets. A data packet may include, in addition to data content to be delivered, control information regarding the data. For example, a header of the data packet may include information regarding a source or destination of the data packet, and information regarding the organization of data in the data packet. A header or trailer of the data packet may include a checksum or other error detection information.
A device or application such as a network sniffer may be designed to passively monitor the traffic by capturing data packets that travel along the network. The network sniffer may be designed to capture and analyze the data packets without detectibly interfering with the network traffic. For example, the network sniffer may be limited to capturing and analyzing data packets that were generated by remote machine or stations, without itself initiating communication over the network and without transmitting any data.
Analysis of the data packets by a network sniffer application may yield useful information regarding the behavior of the network, and of machines or stations connected to the network. Such information may be of use in managing the network. For example, such information may enable assessing network performance, or may be of use in planning improvements to the network.